This invention relates generally to medical examination tables and, more particularly, to a dental examination chair equipped to enable quick response to medical emergency conditions of a patient.
Traditional dental examination chairs provide many options for the comfort and convenience of both the patient and the dentist. For example, the chair may be padded as the patient will be lying in it for an extended period of time, sometimes almost entirely in a horizontal position. Further, the chair is typically adjustable to any particular position that is comfortable for the dentist to have access to a patient's mouth. Various dental accessories may be connected to the chair as well, such as a device for spraying water into a patient's mouth or a basin enabling the patient to expel the water.
Dental procedures are sometimes uncomfortable and may result in minor pain or even bleeding of the gums. However, it is possible that more significant medical events may occur while a patient is in the examination chair. Although rare and perhaps unrelated to any dental procedure, a patient may experience a raised pulse or even some degree of heart failure, such as a heart attack. Although the existing dental examination chairs are presumably effective for their intended purposes, they do not provide means for immediately treating the several major medical events that may occur and which may, in a worst case scenario, be fatal.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a safety dental chair that enables a dentist or dental assistant to provide immediate treatment or analysis of an emergency medical condition. Further, it would be desirable to have a safety dental chair having a vitals monitor for assessing a health situation as well as apparatus for providing emergency and life-saving procedures.